Co-op in Review: April 2, 2015

This week, our history students learned about Rome!  Specifically, they learned about how Roman power was established on the Italian peninsula and how the Roman Republic was founded and established.  While the Republic form of government did not last in Rome, it was a very stable form of government and lasted over 500 years.  That's longer than the Republic in the United States has lasted . . . so far!  The kids also learned about everyday life in Rome and about some of the Roman advances in building and architecture.  The Dialectic class started a unit on Rome that will take them through the end of the school year.  The kids were divided into pairs and each assigned an element of Roman architecture to construct, using any materials they would like--and creativity encouraged.  It will be excited to see finished products like the Colosseum, a Roman villa or an aqueduct.  The Upper Grammar class learned to build like the Romans as well.  They made layer models of Roman roads--which were famous for their durability--some even exist today!  The Lower Grammar class worked together to build a huge aqueduct out of paper towel rolls.  They had fun rolling ping pong balls down their aqueduct to check if it worked!  The Five in a Row class read the book, "God Gave us Easter."  This book really prepared the kids for the upcoming celebration of Jesus's resurrection!  The kids then made beautiful Easter eggs out of brightly colored paper.